Duncan Faircloth: “I have spent the last 46 years in the private sector. I have met a payroll every Friday for every week of those years…”

“I have spent the last 46 years in the private sector. I have met a payroll every Friday for every week of those years and with a little luck will meet one this Friday. It is unfortunate for the American people that there are not more representatives who know what it means to run a business. If there were, we would have repealed the union-inspired mandates like Davis-Bacon long ago. It is time we agreed to an amendment like the one before us. We need to send the cities and towns a clear message that the Congress is no longer going to burden them with unfunded Federal mandates like Davis-Bacon. And certainly it is time to let the taxpayers know that Congress is no longer willing to waste their money on union mandates. Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements are a drain on the taxpayer, the private sector, the job market, the towns and, in this bill, the environment. The only beneficiaries of Davis-Bacon are Big Labor and its allies in the Congress. Obviously, Federal prevailing wage laws are a bad idea whose time will never come. Do not misunderstand. As any union boss will tell you, Davis-Bacon is a successful labor law. It does exactly what it is supposed to do; it drives labor costs above the market price and excludes low-skilled, entry-level workers from the job market and eliminates any potential for apprentice training. It is big labor's best friend. It is the taxpayers' worst enemy.”